The invention relates to an apparatus for removing the legs of a fowl from an overhead conveyor shackle. Devices of this kind are generally provided with clamping means for holding the shackle against any movement relative to the moving conveyor, as the fowl's feet or legs are contacted by an unloading member, which gradually lifts the feet out of the shackle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,924 described a device of this kind which is used for unloading whole birds. In this device, which is installed in a 90.degree. or 180.degree. curve of the overhead conveyor, the clamping means consist of a clamping wheel driven by and concentric with the conveyor, which cooperates with a stationary clamping bar for holding the shackles, whereas the unloading member consists of a curved stationary guide bar, sloping upwards in the direction of travel of the conveyor. When unloading whole birds, which are held by their ankle joints in two tapering slots at the bottom of the shackle, it is sufficient to lift the legs so high that the knuckles may pass through a wider part of the slots, after which the bird's legs are pulled out of the shackle by the weight of the bird.
This known apparatus, however, has the disadvantage that it can not be used for unloading the cut off feet, which remain in the shackle when the bird's legs are cut through in the ankle joint. Since the claws of the bird are much wider than the knuckle of the ankle joint and the bird's weight is no longer there to assist the removal of the feet, the feet must be lifted up so high that they tip over length-wise out of the shackle. In order to achieve the height increase necessary for this, the slope of the guide bar would have to be so steep that the feet would be pushed away sideways and become tangled between the guide bar and the shackle, instead of being removed from the shackle.